random reflections, rants and reviews on life; telling it like it is since 1959

Being duped

July 10, 2013

I continually get messages on Linkedin asking me if I am a doctor and if I’d like to be listed in The Leading Physicians of the World. “Are you a Doctor? – Apply to appear in the 2013-2014 Leading Physicians of the World, It’s Free”. I thought it would be a pile of shite and I think I’m right.
For God’s sake. What doctor worth their salt wants some crappy wall plaque to give them credibility? I investigated what you need to do to become a “Leading Physician of the World” and all I need to do is apply. There’s no independent review by peers, and as long as I can tick the boxes that I have qualified and done my postgraduate training, then I will be awarded the distinction of being one of the Leading Physicians of the World and can be included in the website ‘TopDocs.com’……… yeah, right. It all sounds like a shabby shabby scam to me to dupe patients in to thinking they can get themselves an expert in the field by going on the websites and finding someone listed.
I could be wrong of course, but it doesn’t look like this listing means they are actually one of the top docs in their field – it only verifies that they are qualified in it. I’ll bet they have Michael Jackson’s doctor listed as an expert. Shipman would be on there if he’d applied. It pisses me off because it lulls people in to a false sense of security and could put unjustified questionmarks in their minds about doctors who are not listed on these sites.
If you are going to call yourselves ‘Leading Physicians of the World’ or ‘TopDocs’ then there should be an independent scrutiny panel to assess practice, research output and a clear protocol of what attributes have been assessed. Not a monkey-led checkboxing exercise.